THE NIGHT BIKRAM BEAT ME

On Tuesday night I went to Bikram yoga as I’m trying to get into a routine of 1-2 practices a week. It was a warm day and in fact it was a bit hot in the afternoon. It was nice to go in my yoga gear with just a T-shirt to cover up before and after the class.

I like to arrive early, set up and lie in savasna for a few minutes to allow the day’s cares to melt away and prepare myself mentally for the class. Then I sit up, check out the room and patiently wait for the class to start.

So I got to that point and started to feel uncomfortable. I was sweating a fair bit but didn’t have any idea of the room temperature. We started the class with the deep breathing exercise and almost immediately my heart rate went quite high (VERY unusual – as I’m still reasonably aerobically fit and this has never happened before). It wasn’t long before I was feeling moderately dizzy and slightly disorientated. I did my best on the standing poses but got to the triangle pose and decided to sit it out as its one of the “aerobic poses” and God knows I was already working aerobically and not handling it well.

From there on I paced myself through the standing poses sometimes just doing them once instead of twice. The standing head to knee compression pose was dreadful as I then found breathing difficult as well – adding further to my “unhappiness.” I thought I’d be fine once we started the floor poses but this was not the case. Even lying in savasna was hard and no matter how much I focussed on relaxing to slow my breathing, it just wasn’t happening.

I’ve heard the instructors say many times “if you feel dizzy or not good lie down but try to stay in the room” so I made this my goal. But honestly every minute felt like it was 10 minutes long and I felt awful. Staying to the end was a true test of my willpower and endurance. At the final savasna I ALWAYS lie quietly for several minutes enjoying the calm and the sense of achievement that I feel at the end of a class but this time I was up almost straight away, teetering out of the room, escaping the torture chamber (as its affectionately known.) It took a long time before I felt anywhere near normal.

A lady had a chat with me after the class explaining that I just needed to acclimatise to the room in warmer weather and this would take about a week after which I’d be back to coping and loving my Bikram as I did before. I know she’s right but next time it’s a warm – hot day, I wont be going in too early and I’ll take a frozen sports drink with me in case this happens again. I have no intention to quit but this session did shake me up a bit.

 M